Sood Charity Foundation Sood has founded the Sood Charity Foundation "to help people of all stature". An initiative by Sood for providing free coaching to
UPSC exam candidates from underprivileged financial backgrounds. Sood was announced as the
Delhi Government's brand ambassador of its
Desh ke Mentor ("country mentor") programme by the
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on 27 August 2021. SANKALP is one of the flagship campaigns of the Sood Charity Foundation. It is a free law entrance coaching program to assist people with academic guidance and other essential resources for CLAT and AILET exam preparation. The goal has been to bridge the gap between the less-privileged deserving candidates and Law schools. The train accident in Odisha's Balasore resulted in the death of over 250 people and left more than 1,000 injured. Sonu launched Helpline For Odisha Train Accident Victims and requests the government to set up a relief fund.
Fraudsters impersonating Sood Charity Foundation Across the country there are many volunteers and agents who have possibly associated to support the work of the organization and have started contacting people via twitter, Facebook and Instagram to impersonate Sonu Sood and Sonali Sood and are collecting fees in his name. They take the money online via bank transfers and later withdraw the money via ATM machines. Reports also suggest that they spoof emails of Sood Charity Foundation. The Foundation has not actively taken steps to ensure this stops and contacting the foundation senior management is near impossible to most civilians.
Social work during the COVID-19 pandemic In May 2020, during the
nationwide lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Sood helped thousands of stranded
Indian migrant workers to reach their homes by arranging buses, special trains and chartered flights for them. In July 2020 he arranged a chartered flight to bring home over 1,500 Indian students stranded in
Kyrgyzstan, flying them from
Bishkek to
Varanasi. His charity during the pandemic was lauded, and he was hailed as a real-life hero in India. On 25 July 2020, a video of a farmer's daughters ploughing a field, like bulls with a yoke on their shoulders, went viral over social media. Sood quickly sent the family a tractor. On 5 August 2020, he helped 101 medical students, predominantly from Tamil Nadu, who were stranded in Moscow during the lockdown, reach Chennai safely on a chartered flight arranged by him after they contacted his team for help. On his birthday he launched a website and app called Pravasi Rojgar to help migrant workers find suitable jobs amid the pandemic. On 19 February 2021, Sood launched an initiative 'Ilaaj India' platform to provide healthcare services for needy people. In December 2020 he published
I Am No Messiah, autobiographical book, narrating his journey to become an actor, and narrating his social work during the pandemic. On 17 April 2021, Sonu Sood tested positive for
COVID-19. He also shared a message for his fans in his post that read: "Covid – positive. Mood and spirit – super positive. Hi everyone, this is to inform you that I have tested positive this morning for COVID-19. As a part of precautions, I have already quarantined myself and taking utmost care. But don't worry this gives me ample time to solve your problems. Remember I am always there for you all." In 2021, Sood provided much-needed oxygen plants and cylinders for COVID-19 patients in India. Sood and
Kumar Vishwas have supported the
Aao Gaon Bachayein ("Save the Villages") campaign started by comic poet and satirist
Pankaj Prasun. == Bibliography ==